


The Mysterious Illness

by Taikanaakka



Series: Additional Chapters to Mirage [3]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Blood, Daggerfall, Gen, Healers, High Rock, Illnesses, Tamriel, glenumbra, rivenspire, shornhelm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 11:54:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18498448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taikanaakka/pseuds/Taikanaakka
Summary: Some of Linnea's friends in Daggerfall have contracted a mysterious disease, so Linnea travels there to help them. The events in these chapters take place some years after what happened in the main story (Mirage).





	1. Chapter 1

"You've got mail!" the stewardess shouted to Linnea from the front door of her house. "Put it onto the kitchen table, please. I'll come there soon," she replied to her, and returned to her study which was located in the Northern tower of the large house. She finished dissecting the head of an orc male that she had been examining. Then she cleaned her knife and other equipment, took off her apron and washed her hands in a washing tube filled with purifying liquid that included Nirnroot and water hyacinth extract; she dried her hands with a linen, sat at the side desk and wrote up the notes about her research session.  
  
"Oh, and Mr. Fleming asked me to say to you that he'll be away from home for quite a while. Baron Dorell requested him to go to the north-western coast with his troops to take care of some problem that has occurred there," the stewardess informed her. She nodded at her, while reading the letter she had gotten, and replied to her: "This is from Aleksei, he's my friend, an officer in the Daggerfall City Guard. He asks if I could meet him there; he writes that some of our friends who serve in his troops, have become ill and the healers there don't know what's wrong with them - but he hopes that I, being a healer and an alchemist, could help them in some way."  
  
"I'll go to Daggerfall to see what I can do," she decided, and said to the stewardess: "I don't know how long I'll be there but if my husband returns before I do, please tell him that I've gone to Daggerfall and that I don't know  yet when I come back." "Alright - but I was supposed to have one week off now," she reminded her. "Oh, right, I gave you that holiday...if you want to go, it's fine; I think this house won't collapse while we're away, and I can leave him a message," she said and smiled at her in a friendly way. "Oh, thank you so much," she replied, sounding relieved.  
  
Linnea cleaned herself up, changed into her elegant, white mage robes that were armoured lightly and had black and light-blue decorations in them, packed her backbag and made other necessary preparations for the journey. She saddled her faithful horse at the stables and rode to Shornhelm, the capital of Rivenspire, with it; when she arrived in Shornhelm, she left it at the stables of that city and paid well to the stable master so that it would be taken care of until she would return to get it back. She went to the Mages Guild and asked her fellow mages to create her a portal to Daggerfall; she did not like using the portals but it was indeed the most practical and fastest way to travel between the capital cities.  
  
She came out of the portal in the guild hall of the Mages Guild in Daggerfall; her acquaintances there came to greet her as soon as they had noticed her arrival. She chatted with them for some time; she was interested to hear how things were in Daggerfall and what had changed since her last visit.  
  
As she stepped out of the guild hall, she instantly sensed the change of climate - the afternoon sun shining in the bright, cloudless sky made her head hurt, since she was so used to the very different autumn weather in where she lived now. Due to its more southern location, it was still rather warm in Daggerfall, and the trees still had yellow leaves on them; in Rivenspire, the trees were already leafless, it rained almost constantly in the autumntime, and it was chillier.  
  
She walked along the streets so familiar to her; many people still recognised the hero of Daggerfall - and, in fact, now the hero of the whole Covenant and saviour of Nirn - and greeted her as she passed by. She headed to the castle of Daggerfall; she found Captain Aresin in his office. She asked him how he had been and how things had been in the City Guard recently, and told him about her own life, too; they discussed for a great while. Then she asked him where she could find Aleksei, and he told her that he would be in the practising grounds, training the new recruits.  
  
She noticed that Aleksei was training the recruits to shoot with a bow; they were practising with dolls made of wood and hay as their targets. "Excellent work! Those arrows would certainly have taken down that mage," he encouraged one of the conscripts as he saw that all of her arrows had hit either the chest or head of her target doll. He had not noticed Linnea - who had been observing them in the shadow of the wall - yet. She smiled to herself; he looked so much more confident and a way more experienced compared to the last time she had seen him on duty. "Except if the mage had cast a wall of flames or a fire or sunlight shield to burn down all those wooden arrows you use," she stated and stepped forward, smiling deviously, and greeted them.  
  
"Stendarr's Mercy, it's you, Linnea, after such a long time!" he exclaimed as he noticed her. "I got your letter, you asked me to come here," she reminded him, and he replied astonished: "Aye - but I didn't expect you to be here so soon!" "It's fast to travel through those portals, I've got to admit, even though I hate those magical shortcuts so much," she said and laughed a bit at his amazed expression. "Alright, recruits! Let's call it a day now...just do, say, fifty push-ups during the evening, or something," he declared happily and added: "I won't be controlling that in any way, it's for your own good to get into a good shape!" "Yes, sir!" they replied delighted and quickly left before he could change his mind about releasing them a few hours earlier than usually.  
  
"It's so nice to see you again...oh, by the Eight, I've missed you so much,” he said and hugged her so tightly that he accidentally lifted her from the ground, since he was that much taller than she was. She smiled, and - as her feet touched the ground again - said: "I've missed you a lot, too!" and added: "I've always liked the fresh scent in your hair after you've spent the whole day on duty outdoors," He smiled, too, and replied: "And I yours, when you've spent the day working at the alchemy laboratory with all those interesting floral reagents." "Oh, right...the lady smocks and water hyacinths! I didn't remember where I put them but they were in the pocket of my better mage robes, it seems!" she remembered as he had mentioned about the scent; she was happy that she had cleaned herself properly before leaving, so that she did not smell of death and decaying body parts, because of her current research project.  
  
"You look different in some way," he stated. "Older, perhaps?" she said and smirked. "No, I didn't mean it that way, in fact, you don't seem any older than when we last met, dear! I can't explain it but different anyways...more...serene, maybe?" he replied. "And you look so much more confident in your duty now," she complimented him. "Thanks – I still remember how difficult everything felt at the beginning - especially when you were gone, too, and I was all alone. Eventually I got used to being an officer and got my life back together otherwise, too, with the help of my friends," he replied. They were silent for a moment and then he said to her, looking her into eyes: "I still care for you a lot - I never stopped loving you." "I love you, too - I've always loved you - but we have our own separate lives now," she replied and smiled a bit sadly to him. "Aye, we both have our own families now," he said a bit wistfully – but then told her happily: "And we're getting our first child soon." "Oh wow, congratulations," she said and reckoned: "I'm sure that you'll become a good father. You've always been so responsible and long-tempered."  
  
"But you wrote something about our friends being sick?" she asked. "Yes, they were raiding a cave occupied by bandits near the city about a week ago, and some animal bit them there but nobody saw what beast it was. Soon after that Olivier first started to get sick and now, some days ago also Anton started to have similar symptoms as he first had. Our healers have no clue what's wrong with them," he explained, sounding extremely concerned, and asked her: "Do you think it's contagious?" "Of course it is," she assumed, and, having seen that he got startled by her reply, quickly explained: "It's obviously transmitted through a bite, when the contaminated saliva gets into the bloodstream or perhaps even only onto the skin, at least - but it doesn't appear to be airborne, if only Olivier and Anton who got bitten, have become sick, and not their comrades or any other people that have spent time with them." "I've been visiting my friends but at least I haven't felt sick in any way yet - but I haven't touched them, I've only brought them food and drink and only shortly chatted with them," he said to her. "Well, hopefully we’ll know more soon. I'll try to identify this disease and how easily it's transmitted, and help our friends as best as I can," she promised him. "I'm glad you came to help us," he said, and then warned her: "Just be careful when examining and treating them, alright? In case that it is airborne after all, or otherwise easily spreading," "Like always," she promised and smirked; then she instructed him: "And just to be sure...don't take your pregnant wife to visit them." "It wouldn't even come to my mind to let her go anywhere near them," he assured her.  
  
"Good evening, Olivier," she greeted her friend as he opened the door. "Oh, by the Divines, it's you, Linnea! I'm happy to see you again - but you shouldn’t come in, because I've been sick lately," he said to her. "It's alright - in fact, it's the reason why I came to Daggerfall. Alex wrote me about it and I promised to check if there's something I could do for you," she explained, and noticed: "You look rather pale." "I guess so - but so do you, even though summer was not so long time ago," he pointed out. She laughed a bit amused at his comment, and quickly stated: "Well, the sun doesn't shine very often in where I live in Rivenspire, and I've rarely spent so much time outdoors during the daylight hours in these days." "Could I come in?" she asked. "If you really wish to. Alex has been visiting me, too, and you're a healer...so I guess it's okay, then," he replied.  
  
"It's pretty dark here," she noticed, and lit up the candles on the table; they shed enough light on everywhere in his small but cosy home, except to the corners. "It is? I kinda haven't noticed it," he wondered and added: "In fact, too bright light makes my head hurt." They sat at the dining table; he apologised that he had nothing to offer her but she assured him that she was not hungry or thirsty at all.  
  
"So, how did this all start? I know that you did an assault to the bandit cave with your comrades – tell me everything that happened there, please." she requested and observed him as he started to recall the events there. "We had been planning that raid carefully and in detail. First, everything went well and as expected - we surprised the bandits, and because none of them surrendered, we killed them all as we were commanded to. They were a notorious gang and causing lots of trouble in this area. So, everything went well until we reached end of that cave. We thought that we had already cleared the place out but then something ambushed me there, it bit me, trying to kill me - I already thought I'd be finished but luckily Anton managed to get that beast away from me, he only got minor scratches. We didn't see what kinda animal it was, though, cos it was so dark there, and that creature was bloody fast, too. We all tried to look for it to hunt it down but we didn't find it anywhere anymore," he told.  
  
"So that's what happened. Did the predator you encountered there touch anyone else besides you two?" she asked. "I...dunno...maybe not...I think...but -" he replied absent-mindedly and kept staring at her intensively; she noticed that she could not interact with him properly anymore. "Is something troubling you?" she asked him but he remained silent. "You can tell me, Olivier, it's alright," she reassured him. "No, everything's fine...you just look so - oh, Gods, I mean no, it's not right! You should leave me alone!" he said, sounding agonised and confused. She tried to calm him down, stating: "I'm here to help you," but he cried out: "No! You must get out of here, before I - Linnea, run away! Now!" Then he suddenly attacked her, jumping unexpectedly quickly over the table and pushed her onto the ground.  
  
She quickly cast a shield of sunlight between them; he cried in pain and backed out from her. He tried to attack her once more but she threw spells of sunlight in front of him so that he could not get close to her. "Stop that, you're hurting me!" he shouted. "I'm sorry but I can't let you come at me," she apologised.  
  
Finally he appeared to regain his self-control over his feral behaviour; he fell onto the floor, shaking, and quietly said: "Oh, dear Gods, I can't understand what came to me, oh Gods, I'm so sorry!" "Everything's alright now, no serious harm was caused," she pacified him and calmly came to sit next to him. "Have you attacked on anyone else?" she asked him. "Oh, heaven's sake, no! I don't know what happened - please go away, before I lose my mind again," he asked her desperately but she assured him: "I won’t let you hurt me – and I'll help you, as I already said." She fetched her alchemy kit and took a chalice from it; then she drew her dagger. "Try to restrain yourself, please," she said to him and exposed her forearm. "What in Oblivion are you doing?" he asked shocked - but watched her enthralled. "Helping you," she said, gave him the chalice filled with crimson-shaded liquid and cast a healing spell.  
  
"Suddenly I feel so much better. Not so sick anymore, and like I could think more clearly again," he said to her. "You were starving," she stated. "I don't think so," he replied astonished, and explained: "I've lost my appetite. Alex brought me food but I haven't eaten any of it, as you can see," pointing at the side table near the fire place. Linnea looked at the stale sweet rolls and partially rotten apples there and sneered; "I understand that very well," she said. "But I've felt really thirsty in fact. Even though, every time I've tried to drink a bit more water, I've started to feel ill and thrown it up," he revealed.  
  
"So, I think I know what's wrong with you," she said to him as they sat on his bed. She took his hand as she told him the bad news: "I'm sorry but I can't cure you anymore, the disease has already progressed so far that the transition has already taken place." "What does that mean?" he asked frightened. She looked him firmly into the eyes, and stated: "It means that you'll have to get used to your new _life_ now. But I promise to help you with that." "However, I think I could still cure Anton, if he has only had the symptoms Alex described me for a couple of days," she reckoned. He remained silent for quite a while and then replied: "Okay, so be it, then. If it won't get worse than this, I guess I could get used to this, eventually. And I’d be very happy for him, if you managed to heal him, so that he wouldn’t have to share the same fate with me." "You will get used to this, I'm sure of it," she assured him, and added: "But I wonder if you could help me - I'd like to have a bit of your blood in turn now." "Oh, okay, if you need it for something, then sure. That's the least I can do - thank you so much for what you’ve done for me, you made me feel so much better, even if you couldn’t cure me," he replied.

"It's nice to see you working at this laboratory again," Danel Telleno, the Master Alchemist of the Mages Guild of Daggerfall complimented her; she had asked him if she could use his tools and the alchemy laboratory in the guild hall. "I thought you had died when Officer Virchow brought me your old stocks of reagents and solvents, and gave your spell books to Valaste," he said to her. "So did he," she replied to him shortly. He understood of her tone that she would not like to discuss about the topic any further, thus he commented: "You're using blood as a solvent? That's most fascinating - I don't remember having taught you that." "I've discovered this myself," she replied, and explained: "I'm making an antidote of some kind; I'm using infected blood to create a potion that should cure from the prodromal stage of a disease." Having seen his expression, she quickly assured him: "I'll clean up properly after I'm finished - I'll cleanse everything with arcane fire and purifying extracts." "Very well," he replied calmly and then asked curiously: "Are we talking about the same mysterious illness that the city guards got and our healers weren't able to identify?" She nodded, and he asked: "Do you happen to know what disease it is?" "It's a mystery to me, too," she claimed.  
  
"Hey, that potion you gave me really helped, Lin!" Anton said to her happily, and added: "It's been only a couple of hours and I already feel completely healthy again, thanks, Lin, this is a miracle!" "I'm glad that I was able to cure you," she said relieved but then revealed: "Unfortunately I couldn't cure Olivier, the disease progressed so much faster in him, it seems. But I'll help him to learn how to live with it." "Oh my...how bad is it?" he asked sadly but she assumed: "I'd say he'll get used to it quite fast." "I'm sure of that - if he survived that animal's attack, he'll survive anything, right?" he stated, and explained: "I'd never have believed I could actually save him but I had to do something when it attacked, I couldn't just let it slaughter my friend."  
  
"Right...that predator is still roaming free," she remembered, and added: "But it could be anywhere by now. If anyone else becomes sick or if there are sightings or traces of it, I want to be informed of it instantly; in that case, ask Aleksei to send me a letter with top priority, so that it is delivered extremely fast." "Okay, I'll let him and you know, if I hear something about the creature or sick people," he promised and asked: "How long are you going to stay in Daggerfall?" "Until tomorrow at least," she replied. "Oh, that's great, it's been nice to hang with you again, Lin! And Alex has a day off tomorrow, I'm sure that he'd like to spend more time with you, too! If you need a place to spend the night in, you could stay with me or share a room with Will," he suggested but she replied: "Thanks but I think I prefer having my personal space, so I'm planning to stay overnight at the guest room of the Mages Guild."  
  
It was already midday when Linnea woke up. She had gotten her old room in the Mages Guild hall to spend the night in; the bed had been significantly less comfortable than she had remembered it to be but it had not disturbed her, since she would not have slept many hours in any case. She had visited the Guild’s library and read interesting books there almost till the sunrise. She performed her morning routines and then walked to the castle of Daggerfall, to the officers' living quarters there, and knocked on Aleksei's door - on the door of the very same room she used to live in with him. She knew that he would be already awake, since he always got up a lot earlier than she did, when they lived together.  
  
"Oh, hello Linnea! Anton told me that you'd be staying at the Mages Guild, so I was just about to go there to ask you if you'd like to spend the day with us – but I wasn’t sure if you would still be sleeping. My wife isn't at home today but my little brother came to visit me; I’m looking after him today," Aleksei said to her happily, pointing at the little boy behind him. "I'd love to," she said and smiled. Aleksei noticed that the child was trying to take his sheathed sword from the weapon rack; he had put it higher there so that he would not reach it. He quickly went to him, and said: "Oh, I think you still have to grow up a bit before you'll get to practise with that but I promise to get you a very fancy wooden sword instead! Come to say hello to Linnea, she's my and our father's friend."  
  
"You've got cold hands! Why?" the boy wondered; he had asked her to lift him up like Aleksei did, hoping that she would lift him even higher than his big brother did. She smiled a bit and stated: "Hmm...I don't know. Maybe I just feel cold easier than you guys. Or maybe I should put warmer clothes on me?" "So, I can't cure Olivier but he'll live; he'll remain like he is now. I've planned to take him with me to Rivenspire, if he agrees on that - I think it would be for the best if he lived with me at my home for some time," she said to Aleksei. "Oh...do you know the name of the sickness? And is he going to be able to continue working here anymore?" he asked her. "I do - but he can tell it to you himself a bit later, if he wishes to," she replied, and explained: "It depends on how well he adapts to his condition and what kinds of arrangements you are willing to make, so, it’s up to him, you and probably to Captain Aresin, too, if he'll be able to continue serving in your troops."  
  
They enjoyed spending the day together. In the evening, when she was about to leave with Olivier and they were saying their goodbyes, he asked her: "By the way, would you like to become the godmother of our child? My wife also said that she couldn't wish a better godparent for our child than the hero of Daggerfall and the Covenant." She smiled happily and replied: "It would be an honour for me!" Then she remembered: "Oh, I almost forgot - I want to give your child this," and took a golden pendant with a ruby in the middle of it from her pocket. "This is enchanted so that it protects from some harmful things," she explained, and asked: "Do you have enough health-restoring potions left?" "Thank you – aye, we, have," he replied; he embraced her long before they departed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivier travels to Rivenspire with Linnea and he finds out about her secrets there.

  
"Hey there, friend. You're blocking my view of the fire. And the heat, too. Mind shifting a bit?" Sahil, an unnaturally pale Redguard said to Linnea; he was sitting at the hearth fire in the Dead Wolf Inn in Shornhelm. "Not at all," she said, being as amused as always of his passion to the fire. "But have you seen a fair-skinned and fair-haired Breton lad who wears a black, hooded cloak?" she asked him, sounding a bit concerned and added annoyed: "He was supposed to wait for me here but by Sheogorath's Madness, now he's gone!"  
  
Sahil smiled a bit smugly and replied her: "Aye...that guy's obviously your new protege. I told him not to drink that bottle of mead but he just scorned to my friendly advice, bragging that he was no milk drinker and that he would definitely not get drunk from just one bottle of even a bit stronger mead. When he had finished it, he quickly had to rush away - I warned him, aye - probably you'll find him outside of the inn now." "Thanks, I'll go searching for him now," she replied. "Hey wait a moment! Do you know when you get more of...that stuff?" he subtly asked her, and then added a bit bitterly: "Even though you certainly leave me craving and give all of it to your new, cute little pet..." "Hah, don't worry, I won't forget you, dear, I promise! Even though you can get it in a civilised manner, yourself, if you want to - you're just too lazy so you always beg it from me," she stated to him in a friendly way, and continued: "There seems to be a bounty on quite a few criminals that have last been seen in this region...but it depends entirely on whether I'm faster than my husband and his men and get those bastards before they do, you know! I think, though, that this time I can't hunt them down - based on what I've heard, the outlaws are probably in the north-western coast now but I can't travel there at the moment."  
  
"You poor thing!" Linnea said with compassion to Olivier, who she had found retching, right around the corner, outside the inn - she caught his hair and held it when he threw up again. "Oh, I feel so terribly ill...that random guy in the inn, he warned me not to drink that bottle...how did he know that this would happen? I thought he was just mocking me cos I'm an outsider in this city," he said miserably, still feeling nauseous. "I told you to wait for me there - I didn't suppose that you'd fetch a bottle of mead for yourself meanwhile," she wondered. "I didn't actually feel like drinking anything but I just wanted to do it, out of habit...like I've always done in the Rosy Lion Inn in Daggerfall," he said and complained: "Oh, Stendarr's Mercy, you can't believe how embarrassing it was when my local colleague considerately helped me out through a back door cos I obviously wouldn't have made it out in time through the front door. I could've died from shame when he kindly reminded me not to drink so much next time - exactly like I tend to say to the drunks when I'm on duty, keeping watch at our inn!"  
  
Linnea and Olivier rode together in darkness. They were travelling to her residence with her horse; they had left Shornhelm as soon as the night had fallen. It rained but the growing Moons shed light behind the veil of clouds. The figures of the leafless trees along the road looked like hands of giant skeletons sticking from the ground that was covered with decaying leaves and plants, and the chilly autumn wind made them wave.  
  
"Could I have the reins? I've ridden before - and I see extremely well in the dark now. I'd rather sit in front of you," he suggested but she declined his request, explaining: "My horse is a very kind and loyal creature - but it can be a bit cunning sometimes." "Oh, alright but could you cover your neck, please." "I'm not feeling cold," she said. "You're teasing me," he stated a bit annoyed. "You should learn to better restrain yourself," she replied. "Aren't you afraid that I'll be provoked and lose my self-control?" he asked upset. "No, I'm not. I trust you," she replied, sounding laid-back. "Even though I attacked on you yesterday?" he questioned what she had said. "You were starving then; I fed you before we left Shornhelm, that should be enough," she explained. "I still feel a bit hungry," he pointed out. "You'll always feel hungry. You'll have to learn to eat so that you aren't starving but you have to accept it that you'll never feel full. You could never eat so much that you would be satisfied," she patiently advised him.

It was after midnight when they arrived in their destination, at her manor near Northpoint, the northernmost city of Rivenspire. "Moons are the sun of the Dead," she said, speaking in half to herself as she looked up to the sky; it was cloudless but the cold autumn winds were blowing from the sea in the north. They would probably bring clouds and rain with them - perhaps even a storm would be on its way. "A-aye...they're bright indeed. It's gonna be Full Moons soon," he replied. She dismounted and went to unlock the iron gate of her front yard; it creaked as she pushed it open. He rode in with her horse and she closed the gate behind him. "Feel free to take a look at my front yard, while I take the horse to the stable," she said as he got off the horse, and added: "I'm not very good at being the lady of the house - the flowers in my garden, they tend to perish - even though you don't notice it now, because they would have withered in the autumn anyways. Except for nightshades; they seem to thrive in this place."  
  
The ravens that had been sleeping on the branches of a large tree woke up as they noticed that the mistress of the house had returned with a guest. They started to circle around them and caw loudly. Olivier watched them, feeling a bit tense; he was not sure whether they were welcoming them or moaning about her return - or about his presence in their territory. Linnea's horse appeared to suddenly become restless as they walked towards the stable that was behind the corner. She gestured them to wait, drew her sword, dropped her backpack on the ground and quietly approached the place that had startled it - and as soon as she had gone ahead of them, the horse pulled her rucksack open with its teeth and quickly snatched the flowers that she had packed there last! She sighed as she watched the creature munching her precious alchemy ingredients and explained: "As I told you, it can be a little cunning sometimes - and it's very fond of columbines!"  
  
"Wow, what a nice house you have," he complimented her as they stepped in. She had left candles burning with arcane fire on the tables and in the chandelier; they cast their cold, blue-shaded light to the rooms. "Thanks. Come, I'll show you the interiors," she said, and added, as she closed the door behind them: "My husband and stewardess are away for some time. We're all alone here now."  
  
"This is such a spacious and prosperous manor, aye - but of course, the hero of the Covenant and saviour of Nirn should have a very fancy place to live in, indeed," he stated as she had showed him all of the rooms - except for her study. She smiled a bit deviously and explained: "In fact, we got this quite inexpensively, because people tend to come up with all kinds of silly ghost stories and the previous owner had difficulties to get this sold. They claim that those ravens living in the yard would be spirits of people who have lived here, and that they would've stayed in here to haunt the new owners of this place, hah." They were quiet as she piled firewood into the hearth; then she added: "Hmm...or who knows...maybe a Reachman lived in this house once."  
  
She cast a spell to lit up the logs quickly. They both cried and jumped backwards, as a fiery explosion took place in the hearth before the wood started to burn. "Damn it! Oh, I'm sorry about that. I always forget that my stewardess tends to stick dragonthorns between the bark and the wood. Surely, they're easier for her to lit that way but this is what happens, when she arranges me a nice little surprise with the kindles," she explained to him. "No worries. I just got a bit startled by it but I'm alright - I've got quick reflexes," he assured her.  
  
"Well, it's getting late, so I think I'll retire to my chambers," she said and advised him: "The guest room is yours. Feel free to help yourself, if you need something to do - I've got many interesting books in my library, for example. But please, don't go outdoors, because this isn't a familiar region to you, besides, there's that storm coming soon - and you wouldn't get to the backyard, because I keep that door locked. And don't hesitate to come to ask me, if you need something; I usually stay up till the small hours or even till early morning." "You're not going to lock me up?" he asked astonished. "Why would I do that to my friend?" she wondered. "Aren't you afraid that I'd sneak up to you and ambush you while you sleep?" he asked - for that was what he feared himself. She shrugged, and said indifferently: "Nope." "What in Oblivion is wrong with you?" he asked frustrated. "Maybe I'm blessed by Sheogorath," she replied partially joking and smirked.  
  
Olivier, who had discovered having become nocturnal, thus not being able to sleep, wandered around her large house. Due to his sharpened sense of hearing, the small voices that were common in older houses, which he would not previously paid any attention to, now sounded strange and slightly unnerving to him. He heard the stormy winds blowing against the roof of the northern tower of the mansion - it sounded disturbingly similar to wailing and howling. He stared at the door of the tower and wondered why she had not presented that place to him, even though they had visited every other rooms of her home. The door was not locked but he understood that it would be extremely rude to go there without asking her permission, since she obviously had not wanted to show the place to him. However, his curiosity got better of him - he also thought that he faintly smelled a strange odour coming from there - and he sneaked in.  
  
At the first floor, there were her alchemy laboratory and stocks of alchemical reagents and solvents and other necessary equipment. As he climbed up the stairs, the odour he had smelled became stronger. At the second floor, he saw source of it - the severed limbs, internal organs and a corpse of a Breton male that she had stored there with the ice-wraith teeth that were obviously supposed to keep them cold. There were also her desk, an operating table and shelves that contained soul gems and tools which she probably used for preparing the corpses, there.  
  
"I don't usually let my guests come here. You probably understand why," he suddenly heard her saying behind him, and saw her casting her mage light. Even though he had extremely sharp senses, he had not noticed her coming, since he had been so distraught by what he had found. "I - I'm sorry!" he quickly exclaimed and turned around. "They don't have blood in them anymore - I harvested it just before they died or soon after it - and if they had, it would already be rotten. I also try to embalm them so that they wouldn’t reek so much," she calmly explained to him, not sounding upset even though he had clearly been intruding.  
  
"I didn't know you practise necromancy - you were always so angry with the Worm Cult, and deeply hated that group of necromancers 'cos they killed innocent people and used dark magic!" he said shocked. "These people were wanted dead or alive because of the brutal crimes they had committed. Besides, I wouldn't call this necromancy. I rather study the borderline between life and dead - the very twilight zone so familiar to me, and where you now live in. Hopefully it'll help everyone fully _alive_ , too," she said in her defence, and admitted: "However, I understand that this is easily considered to be related to necromancy, and that my colleagues in the Mages Guild might not accept what I do - that's why I do this research at home." "You've killed people just to get their blood and to use them in your experiments," he said upset, and cried out: "You're -" "- A monster? A murderer? Maybe - but so be it, then," she replied, smiling wickedly, and then asked: "You need to eat. Have you thought yet how you'd do it, if I didn't help you with that?" "No," he admitted, and then said desperately: "But please, help me, I - I'm sorry that I got mad at you - I am just so confused by all of this - this all terrifies me greatly, to be honest." "No offence taken," she replied, and suggested: "Let's go to the drawing room to have a drink. We apparently have a lot to discuss about, and I'm having a sleepless night again, it seems."

She brought them large glasses of crimson-shaded drink, set them onto the table and heated them slightly; "Don't drink it all at once, try to learn to drink it slower so that the pleasure of enjoying it lasts longer, and you won't be craving for more so soon - I think," she guided him. "To your new life," she said smiling - yet, looking a bit sad - and they raised their glasses. “Is this drink made from those…?” he asked, and pointed at the direction where her study was. She nodded; he was silent for a moment, thinking about something, and then asked her: “Couldn’t you just give yours, so that no one would need to get hurt, because I feast? I mean, you can heal yourself so well and all.” “Hah, I don’t intend to be your personal blood reserve for the rest of my life,” she replied, finding his suggestion hilarious, and explained: “I can heal myself, and I’m damn good at it, too – but my body needs building materials for that. I mean, in dire straits, I can heal myself extremely efficiently but if I kept constantly giving my blood away, I would eventually run out of things essential to make new blood, and I could not heal myself anymore.” “However, if you’re too distressed about how I’ve arranged your feeding by now, you should go to live with my friends in Ravenwatch Castle – they’ve solved their food acquiring problems in a different way,” she suggested.

They sat at the table quietly; he stared at her, wondering how little he actually knew of her, despite being her friend. On the other hand, they had never been so close when she had lived in Daggerfall; they had mostly spent time together only because she had been together with Aleksei back then.  
  
Finally he asked her: "Linnea, are you a vampire or not? Heaven's sake, woman, you're too confusing! You dislike sunny weather, sleep long and spend nights awake, look pale, and the drink in your glass -" "- Is very exquisite red wine from Evermore. I don't like drinking blood," she said, smiled amused, and stated: "No, I'm not a vampire myself." "I thought you're not like me, aye - but still, I sense that you're _different_ in some way, I dunno how but different anyways," he stated, and wondered: "And how do you know so terribly lot about vampires, if you're not one yourself?"  
  
"Well, I was being held for about ten years in Coldharbour as Molag Bal's and Mannimarco's prisoner there. I eventually managed to escape from that realm - but without my soul. Soon after the Planemeld was stopped, I got it back, though - but the time my soul remained there after I escaped, in addition to the time I spent in Coldharbour myself, must have left its mark on me. Moreover, having been separated from my soul must have broken something in that link between it and my body," she told him her story, and added: "At one time, I spent quite a lot of time with vampires, I become friends with certain people - or rather, undead - here in Rivenspire. But I also hunted down Montclairs – a noble house of vampires, who were threatening this region. At that time, I hadn’t got my soul back yet, so I was immune to the infection. However, I'm not sure, if I could catch the contagion now that I have my soul, and I'm hopefully a mortal again."  
  
"Oh by the Divines...and I had no idea about any of that. I - I didn't notice the absence of your soul in any way when we spent time together, and you never told me about that," he replied confused. "So, Alex and Anton kept my secret, then - even after my assumed death," she wondered. "Aye. They're trustworthy friends, indeed, so they were loyal to you, even though they thought you were dead," he said, and asked: "I - I miss my friends. Can I ever go back to them, to go home and return to my work?" "It's possible, yes. Then you'd have to tell Alex what you've become - I could come with you to speak with him. I'd explain it so that he wouldn't get unnecessarily frightened, and suggest him what kinds of arrangements he and Captain Aresin should probably do to enable you to continue to serve in their forces," she promised and added: "But first, you'll have to be sure that you can control your behaviour - it would be most unfortunate, if you suddenly attacked on the poor brawlers you're trying to calm down or arrest, when you'd smell their blood!" "Aye," he replied and laughed a bit, when he imagined that tragicomic situation.  
  
"I'm not saying that you must stay in here in the future but I recommend you to consider it as one option - think about it, the damned sun doesn't shine too often here, since it always rains, at least near the coast, and the winter nights are even longer here than they're in Daggerfall, due to this northern location," she stated, and added, before he got time to reply: "Even if you didn't stay in here, you should remember that you can always return to Rivenspire, whenever you want." "I'll keep that on my mind, thanks," he promised. "Therefore, I'd like you to meet my friend Janeve in the coming days. She's the captain of Shornhelm Guard - and she is a vampire herself." "Stendarr's Mercy! I certainly wanna meet her," he replied, sounding extremely interested. "I'll arrange it," she promised; then she yawned and said: "But the sun is rising soon - it's finally time to go to bed, don't you think?" "Aye. Good night - or should I rather say, _Good morning_?" he replied and laughed. "Maybe you should - _Good morning_ to you, too," she replied.


End file.
